


Sock Thief

by Marvel_Mania



Series: Meet-Cutes [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Awkward first meeting, M/M, Meet-Cute, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Stan Lee Cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24279007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvel_Mania/pseuds/Marvel_Mania
Summary: Steve wasn’t going crazy. He wasn’t but he didn’t know what was happening. His things were going missing. At first, he hadn’t been sure but now he was. He was missing articles of clothing and small items from around his apartment.(Alpine is getting into Steve's apartment and stealing his socks and underwear.)
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Meet-Cutes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700515
Comments: 8
Kudos: 207





	Sock Thief

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of a picture but I couldn't find it. The photo is basically just a cat sitting next to a ton of sock and underwear with an apology note on the side. This also took me way too long to finish. 
> 
> As always, thanks to my amazing best friends. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Steve wasn’t going crazy. He wasn’t but he didn’t know what was happening. His things were going missing. At first, he hadn’t been sure but now he was. He was missing articles of clothing and small items from around his apartment. He didn’t think that someone had broken into his apartment because nothing expensive had gone missing, mostly underwear and socks and small trinkets. His door and windows were never messed with. He had thought that someone had been coming in through his open window, that refused to fully close no matter how hard Steve tried to close the damn thing, but it didn’t open wide enough for anyone to get in so he ruled that out.

“Maybe you have a stalker,” Clint teased.

“Or you’re being just as forgetful as usual,” Natasha said and elbowed her best friend.

“Maybe you might want to get year brain checked out. Nat said you got hit in the head pretty hard during your last fight,” Bruce said carefully. Bruce was Natasha’s fiancé and he was a doctor. He had ended up having to patch Steve up on more than once after Steve had gotten himself into back ally brawls.

“Good point,” Natasha said. Steve rolled his eyes because she almost always agreed with Bruce, it didn’t matter that he was right most of the time.

“How is it that you are built like a tank but always looking like you’ve gone ten rounds with a rhino,” Clint piped up again.

Steve rolled his eyes again and questioned his sanity because of his choice of friends. “Oh, I know this one. Because he gets into fights with anywhere from one to ten guys and doesn’t know how to shut up and walk away,” Natasha said, throwing Steve a smirk.

“You know what, Romanov,” Steve said which just made her smirk widen. The conversation switched suddenly and Steve didn’t bring up his missing items again.

  
•••

  
Maybe Steve really should get an MRI or something. He had had to buy underwear twice within the last four months. He had checked the washed and drier relentlessly but had found no sign on his missing clothes. He was also missing about a quarter of his socks and some of his paint brushes. He had called the building owner to request new locks which he had gotten two weeks ago but his items were still going missing.

Steve had come to the conclusion that he was either going crazy or he might really have a stalker. He had considered following a police report but knew that wouldn’t go well. What would he even say? _‘Hi, my name is Steve Rogers and I’d like to report missing items from my apartment. No, no one had broken in as far as I can tell. No, nothing expensive is missing just a lot of socks and underwear and other small items.’_ He could already see himself getting kicked out of the station if he did that.

He had even set up cameras over his apartment but there was nothing except him, his friends, and a short clip of Clint wondering around his apartment naked from when Steve had let him crash there for a weekend instead of having to deal with his loud neighbors. Wishing that he could unsee Clint in the nude, he closed his laptop with a sigh. He ended up reluctantly calling Bruce when the cameras hadn’t worked but all tests he and his colleges had run on Steve came back normal and perfectly healthy.

  
•••

  
“Honey, I’m home,” Bucky said into his empty apartment. As usual Alpine, his beloved cat, came racing to greet him at the door. He had found Alpine in a box next to a dumpster when she was just a kitten. She had been small, small enough to easily fit into Bucky’s hand. He had thought that her fur was light gray but after Bucky had gotten her back to his apartment and cleaned her he found out that her fur was actually white.

She rubbed up against his leg and he leaned down to scoop her up into his arms. She meowed happily until he sat her down on the counter in the kitchen. She loved being the center of attention to everyone in the room. He patted her head before turning to his fridge and got out a frozen meal. He ate quickly, turned the tv on when he was done, and collapsed on the couch after he changed into sweats and an old shirt.

He had worked a sixteen-hour shift at Stark Industries. He had only left when Pepper Potts, the CEO and a close friend of his, had kicked him out and told him not to come back for at least twenty-four hours, preferably thirty-six. He had an agreement with his neighbors that if he got held up at work his neighbors, the Parkers, would come over and feed Alpine. Peter, the boy from next door who absolutely loved Alpine, was smart. He had talked Bucky’s ear off on more than one occasion about almost everything.

Peter had damn near fainted when he found out that Bucky worked with the Tony Stark. Unbeknownst to the teen Bucky, May, Pepper, and Tony were planning a surprise for his seventeenth birthday. Bucky had offered to give Peter a tour of Stark Tower but they would also be having a surprise party in Tony’s penthouse. With nothing pressing to do, Bucky turned on some trashy reality tv and passed out with Alpine curled up on his chest on top of his blanket.

When Bucky woke up the next morning (afternoon) Alpine was gone. He sat up, stretched, and went to look for Alpine. When he found her, she was coming in through his bedroom window, which he kept cracked for her. She sometimes roamed outside but was always back within a few hours. The first thing Bucky noticed was the black object hanging from Alpine’s mouth.

Bucky didn’t stop her, just watched as she carried the object into his closet and to the corner before he set it down on a pile. She then turned to him, blinked, and then went to get dinner. Bucky somehow had missed the forming pile until now. He sat on the ground and started looking through it. He found underwear, that were not his, and socks. He found over a dozen pairs of underwear and no less than thirty socks. They were both for men but clothing wasn’t the only thing he found. He found a handful of paintbrushes, pens, pencils, earphones, and even a fork.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bucky muttered to himself.

He thought about what to do about all this stuff. He considered throwing it away but knew that was kind of a dick move considering his cat was the one to steal the stuff. He rubbed his eyes and cursed at nothing in particular before laying out everything he had found and getting Alpine before taking a photo of her next to everything she had taken.

He then got on his computer and made a flyer with the photo of Alpine and her stash and a short explanation/apology and his contact information. He knew that all this stuff most likely came from someone in the building so he put the flyer on the announcement board in the lobby.

The board had different things on it. Some people looking for other tenants to take care of their pets while out of town, that’s actually how he met Peter and May, there were general announcements about upcoming events that any tenants may need to know about and some announcements from other tenants. Someone was selling an old clock, that wasn’t a new thing to see. It had become a sort of a joke among the tenants, Bucky’s not sure how the whole thing started since it had apparently been going on for many years before Bucky moved in.

Someone would sell the clock, a different tenant would buy it (always for two dollars), keep it for a few weeks or months, and then the cycle would start over. The old man who owned the building, a nice guy named Stan, always got a kick out of it when the for sell flyer went up. In the five years, Bucky had lived in the apartment building, he had come into possession of the clock three or four times. There were a few birthdays coming up, an anniversary, and a couple on the fourth floor were expecting a baby boy at the end of the month.

When Bucky went back up to his apartment he saw Stan looking at the flyer he had just put up and laughed. After he got back to his apartment, Bucky glared at Alpine before scooping her up in his arms and lightly scratching behind her ears. “You’re a real pain in my ass,” Bucky muttered with no real heat. As much as his statement was true, he really did love Alpine.

  
•••

  
Steve was coming back to the apartment building at two in the morning with a black eye forming. He had, once again, gotten into a bar fight with three other guys, and all things considered he didn’t look half bad. Sure, he’d be black in blue for a few days but he was pretty sure nothing had been broken. He dragged himself up the stairs until he got to his floor and just went to bed planning on sleeping for the next two days.

His plans were interrupted when he heard his door swinging open and someone yelling for him. He made a noncommittal groan to signify his location but didn’t do anything else because he really didn’t want to be awake right now.

Not long after that, Natasha and Clint came into his bedroom. “Wake up, shower, and get dressed. We’re meeting Bruce in an hour. You should have called last night when you got the stuffing knocked out of you,” Natasha chastised when she got a good look at him. “You might have a concussion. You’re lucky Clint and I came over to check on you.”

“You’re lucky Nat had the foresight to snag a doctor because if not your medical bill would be through the roof,” Clint teased which earned a glare from Natasha and Steve.

Clint got elbowed in the ribs for the snagged comment. “You have thirty seconds before I dump water on you so I’d start moving quickly,” Natasha said and left the room. Steve groaned again but started moving. He rolled out of bed and then shambled to the shower. He felt a little more human after his shower and went to get dressed only to find that he was missing more underwear.

Steve got back to his apartment a few hours later, with a clean bill of health, but he was dead tired. He stopped by the bulletin board and saw that the clock was for sale again. He hadn’t had the clock in a while and figured what the hell. He’d go to the apartment tomorrow and get the clock. He was about to go back to his apartment and crash when he noticed a picture. A picture of mostly socks and underwear, his socks and underwear. There was also a short note with the picture.

_‘Are you missing underwear? I recently discovered that my cat, Alpine, has been getting into someone’s apartment and stealing men's socks, underwear, and a few other small items. I am deeply sorry about this but you will be happy to know that all clothing items have been washed and nothing else is broken. Once again, I am deeply sorry._   
_-Bucky Barnes, apartment 114’_

There was also contact information but also a small note to just stop by the apartment if the items were yours if you wanted. Steve’s first emotion was a relief because he wasn’t going crazy and he thankfully didn’t have a stalker. Since he had nothing better to do, he figured he would see if Bucky Barnes was home. He quickly made it to the apartment that had been listed and knocked.

“One minute,” called a voice from inside. Steve waited patiently until the door open and revealed a man that made Steve damn near swallowed his tongue. He was gorgeous. Shaggy, dark, beautiful hair and muscles for days and amazing stormy eyes and well you get it. He was shirtless and had sweats that seemed to be fighting against gravity with how low they were on the man’s hips while stubbornly remaining where they were. Steve felt like he could keep going for days and his hands suddenly got an itch to draw the man in front of him. While staring at the man in front of him, he realized that he looked like a mess. He had a black eye, he hadn’t properly brushed his hair, and his clothes were wrinkled from where he hadn’t bothered to fold them when Bruce had made him change into a hospital gown. “Hello,” the man, Bucky the poster said, said carefully.

“Underwear,” was all Steve got out at first before his brain came back online. “Um, you have my underwear. I saw the flyer on the bulletin board and the clothing is mine.”

Bucky’s face got a light dusting of red that followed down to his chest and Steve desperately wanted to draw him. “Oh, of course. Come on in. I’m James by the way but please call me Bucky,” he said and completely opened the door and stepped aside. “I’ll just go get the box. It’s in my bedroom.”

As soon as Steve was in the apartment, a white cat with blue eyes was winding itself between Steve’s legs. Steve squatted down and started to pet the cat. Steve assumes that this was the little clothing thief Alpine. She was purring loudly, obviously very happy at the attention. “Now she’ll never want you to leave. She loves attention and apparently your socks and underwear,” Bucky said when he entered the room again.

“She seems sweet,” Steve said before standing again.

“So, do you know how she’s been getting into your apartment,” Bucky asked as he set the box down on the counter.

“I have a window in my bedroom that simply refuses to close. Stan said it’s been like that since the building was built and it doesn’t bother me so I just leave it.”

“Oh thank god,” Bucky breathed. “I was worried that she broke a window or something.”

“No, just a defective window,” Steve laughed.

They talked for a while. Steve explained his rumpled appearance, earning a laugh from Bucky. “I would have done the same thing. I’ve had to save Tony’s sorry ass after he gets into fights that he’s too drunk to win but I’ve also been in a good number of bar fights for good reasons,” Bucky said with a smile.

Maybe Steve would break out the paints because a black and white sketch of this man would not be justice. Steve was sure that he stayed longer than normal and he only left when Bucky’s phone came to life from its place on the counter. After Steve had left, he kind of wished that he had asked for Bucky’s number or asked him on a date because now he had no reason to see the other man again.

  
•••

  
“Since when did you get a cat,” Clint asked as they got back to Steve’s apartment. It was well into the early hours of the morning, they had been out celebrating with Bruce and Natasha who had gotten engaged earlier that night. Clint had decided to crash at Steve’s place since he didn’t want to go all the way home while drunk out of his mind. They had both made the fatal mistake of trying to keep up with Natasha’s drinking.

Steve had once asked how her liver still worked after they had gone on their first spring break together in college. She had smiled and told him something about alcohol, especially vodka, being the nourishment of her people from Mother Russia, or at least that’s how Steve remembered it but he had passed out a few minutes after that encounter so he might remember it wrong. Snapping back to reality, Steve remembered Clint’s question. “I don’t,” he finally answered.

“Yeah, you do,” Clint said petulantly. “That one.”

Steve looked around and saw what Clint was talking about. There, in his laundry basket, was a white cat with blue eyes. Alpine, he recalled as if he had been able to forget Alpine or her owner. “She’s not mine,” Steve said but he was answered with a loud snore.

Sighing, he got two bottles of water and enough pain killers for both of them. He placed Clint’s on the table next to the couch that Clint was passed out on. After a moment of consideration, Steve also got a bucket from under the sink in case Clint didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. Alpine was simply watching as Steve moved around the apartment but perked up when Steve picked up the laundry basket and took it to his bedroom. Steve changed into sweat pants and then collapsed onto the bed. He was about to drift off to sleep when he felt little paws on his chest and then Alpine curled up over his heart and seemed to go to sleep.

When Steve woke up in the morning, he found that Alpine and his underwear from the night before were gone. Sighing, he would probably go try to talk to Bucky later in the afternoon but for now, he needed to shower and make sure Clint was still breathing. He decided to shower first and then check on Clint.

Steve found Clint leaned over the toilet in the guest bathroom and muttering something about never drinking with Natasha again which was a total lie. “Have you made coffee yet,” Steve asked. But that earned a groan which gave him his answer. Clint wasn’t always coherent until after his first cup of coffee, especially when hungover. Nodding, Steve went to the kitchen to start the coffee.

Clint spent quite a bit of the day, claiming that he was too hungover to move, which earned an eye roll from Steve but once Clint left Steve went to Bucky’s apartment and knocked. He waited for a second before knocking again.

Steve was trying to decide if he should knock a third time or simply go back to his apartment and work when the neighboring door opened and a woman came out. “Oh, if you’re looking for Bucky, he’s at work,” she said as if she could read Steve’s indecision on his face. “The idiot is going to work himself to death if he’s not careful,” she continued almost as an afterthought.

“Oh, okay. I was looking for Bucky but I can come back later,” he said and turned to leave.

The woman gave him a look and Steve could tell that she was sizing him up. “Are you his friend? Is it important,” she asked, still sizing him up.

It made him feel like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar even though he had done absolutely nothing wrong. “I guess. It’s not important, just wanted to talk,” he said not sure what else to say. He didn’t want to mention Alpine and his missing underwear because that seemed to wear and he didn’t want to woman to think he was complaining or upset.

That seemed to be the right answer because the nodded and then a soft smile appeared on her face. “I’m May Parker. Bucky probably won’t be home soon. It’s my nephew’s birthday and Bucky has gone through the trouble of making it a very memorable one for him. I was going to feed Alpine and then head to the party. You are welcome to come, of course,” she said.

Steve knew it would be weird to go but he also felt like saying no to this woman you upset her even if she didn’t show it. She also seemed very close to Bucky so he didn’t want to do anything that might hurt his chances with Bucky if he ever got up the nerve to ask him out so he just nodded dumbly. He had made sure that he looked better this time at the apartment since he had hoped that he would be seeing Bucky again. He was also very glad that he had managed to not get into another back alley bar fight since he was very sure that May would have given him one look and he’d be heading back to his apartment without a single word said between them.

So that’s how Steve found himself in Tony Stark’s penthouse at a seventeen year old’s birthday while pinning over a man who’s cat had been stealing his socks and underwear. He felt the need to look around to see if there were prank cameras but there were none. The lights were dimmed as everyone waited for Peter and Bucky to exit the elevator.

When they did exit the elevator, Peter looked like he might just pass out. Bucky had slung an arm over the teenager’s shoulders and told him happy birthday before introducing him to Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. It was obvious that Bucky had seen Steve the moment the elevator doors opened but he stayed with Peter until it was appropriate to break away and talk with Steve. “Hey, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Bucky said but he was smiling so Steve wasn’t too worried that he had crossed a line.

“Um, well it’s kind of a crazy story. One minute I’m knocking on your door and then May is dragging me here,” he said because it was true.

“May has a way of intimidating people. She’s kind of just become my unofficial, protective older sister. She’s harmless though, at least I think so,” Steve said as he looked over to where May was hugging Peter. He seemed to shake himself back to the moment though. “Why were you at my apartment?”

“Uh, Alpine took at least one more pair of my underwear last night, not that I mind. It gave me an excuse to see you again though I didn’t know I would be at a birthday party,” Steve said with a shy smile.

Whatever Bucky was about day was cut off by the birthday boy. “Oh my god. Bucky you got Tony Stark and Steve Rogers to come to my birthday party,” Peter asked as he damn near tackled Bucky in a hug. “How did you even know I was a fan of Captain America?”

“Uh,” Bucky said dumbly.

“He and your aunt told me about what a big day it was for you and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet one of my fans after everything his family had done to get me here,” Steve said with a charming smile hoping that he was bullshitting it well enough.

“Do you think you could sign something for me? There are napkins over there and I’m sure we can find a pen or something,” Peter asked with big eyes. His best friend, Ned, was also over making big eyes at Steve.

“I actually seem to have forgotten you present at my apartment. It’s a signed first edition Captain America comic. And if you tell me who’s your favorite hero, I could them to sign a hand-drawn sketch for you,” Steve said. It wasn’t a huge stretch since all of his characters were based off of his friends. He had even done a domestic comic issue that sold like hotcakes and he was working on a second issue.

Peter opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something but no words were coming out so he settled on nodding vigorously. Steve could see Bucky giving him an odd glance. “Thank you so much, Mr. Rogers.”

“Call me Steve, Mr. Rogers makes me sound old,” Steve said with a laugh.

“Did you tell Tony about that stuff you accidentally made in chemistry,” Bucky asked and watched as Peter’s face lit up.

“No, I forgot,” he said and was about to run back over to Tony before he remembered his manners. “Thank you for coming to birthday party Mr., uh, Steve.”

“Steve Rogers? How exactly does Pete know you,” Bucky asked.

“I’m an artist. I make comic books. Captain America was my first one but I’ve branched out and I do other comics. Most of the people are based off of my friends so they can actually sign a drawing. The comics have picked up a following and some of the people know who I am so I can get recognized a lot,” Steve said sheepishly.

“I’ve heard Pete mention Captain America,” he said and then he started to laugh.

“What?”

“To think I could have sold your underwear on eBay or Amazon or something,” Bucky said which caused Steve to start laughing as well. After they were able to collect themselves, Bucky spoke again. “After the party, we can go back to my apartment and get your underwear, but feel free to stay. You made me the coolest for being here and I have to say that I don’t mind you either.”

“Heading back to your apartment? You haven’t even taken me on a date,” Steve said with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re right. Peter’s birthday party isn’t a great first date. How about tomorrow I take you out to dinner? The whole wine and dine bit,” Bucky said and who was Steve to disagree.

  
•••

  
Steve didn’t have to worry about underwear going missing since he had moved into Bucky’s apartment. Much to Peter’s joy and dismay. Hell, Bucky was pretty sure Peter had been more nervous about his and Steve’s first date then Bucky had. He was ecstatic when Bucky had mentioned that he was thinking about asking Steve to move in.

“Really? I would live next to Steve Rogers,” he said and then a look of horror crossed his face.

“What, kid,” Bucky asked.

“Would you two, you know, do it,” Peter had asked, still looking horrified.

Bucky had barked out a surprised laugh. “We already do,” was all he had said but that had effectively ended the conversation.

Steve still had his apartment, but it was now solely an art studio for Steve and a small makeshift lab for Bucky.

Sure, Steve still had some socks or underwear go missing on occasion but he was always able to steal a pair from Bucky when he needed. So long as Alpine didn’t discover the small velvet box that’s buried at the bottom of the underwear drawer before Steve is ready to get down on one knee, everything will be great.


End file.
